It Ain't Easy Being Reezy

June 8th 2011 by Joanna Manson

UC student Kurt “Reezy” England took one for the team last wednesday, savouring his moustache and ridding the rest of his hair in the name of raising money for prostate cancer research.An outing to a BYO got Reezy pondering about the month-long Mo May competition, wanting to make his moustache stand out more on his face. 1½ bottles of wine later, he had his plan.

“[I] got an instant response from mates that wanted to donate hundreds –  then somehow my flatmate convinced me to shave off everything except the mo if we reached $1000 for
prostate cancer.”

The next morning wasn’t the best for Reezy, with more than just a hangover to deal with.. A Facebook page about the shave-off was already up and running, courtesy of flatmate and ENSOC representative Ross Shapley, who invited everyone on the ENSOC mailing list to join.

The ‘Everything must go except the mo’ campaign ran alongside ENSOC’s annual Mo May fundraiser, which also collects funds for  prostate cancer.

Shapley was able to confirm that Reezy had spent three hours the morning of the event, combing over every inch of his lower region with a razor, as well as his arms, legs and stomach.

But Reezy said a few people had requested to have a look, and that most of the time he was happy to deliver.

That afternoon, a large crowd congregated on the patio outside the ENSOC shop to watch the event – even the stair-case up to E8 and E9 was packed with an audience pressed along the
glass windows. 

Shapley took the barber role in his stride and was soon joined by ENSOC fleet manager Hamish Lee to tackle the last of the remaining hair – and, of course, the eyebrows.

Reezy said he was “pretty shocked” initially when he saw his reflection, but is starting to get used to the new look. 

A group went off afterwards and used the campus 3D laser scanner to produce a digital model of his body. There are potential plans to try and sell the image on Trade Me as a bid to raise further funds. 

John McFedries, a board member of the Christchurch Prostate Cancer Foundation, came along to check out Reezy shedding the rest of the remaining hair and collect the $1225 raised by the campaign. 

He said he was proud of England for stepping up to “support the biggest minority in New Zealand, that is, men”. 

One in ten New Zealand men will develop prostate cancer and at this age Mr McFedries said “many students think they are bullet proof”.  

The majority of Reezy’s financial backers were mates who he claims just wanted to see him look like a “psych patient”.

He thanked the ENSOC crew for helping out with the fundraising and organising the Mo
May competition. 

ENSOC President Loren Burnett said of the competition that “some boys have clearly done better than others… like [ENSOC Industry rep] Andy Campbell”. 

Burnett, who was also sporting a lengthy mo, said the last week of the competition had been particularly annoying for him, with little things like eating food becoming quite a challenge with
a moustache. 

He is proud of everyone who had entered.

“It’s pretty good to see all the engineering boys getting involved and supporting a good cause.”